Summary
Summary Immunology
- Course
- Institution
- Book
Summary of the lectures of the course Immunology
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Cellular and Molecular Immunology
-
Summary immunology (NWI-BB019B)
-
Summary Immunology - Biology year 2
Seller
Follow
noellevdz
Content preview
ImmunologyLecture 1
30/11/2020
Immunology
Immunology: the scientific discipline that studies the immune system, which serves to protect your
body from infectious agents and cancer
Key concepts
- Innate vs adaptive immune system
- Specific vs aspecific immune responses
- Self vs non-self
- Immunological memory
- Immunity vs tolerance
- Cellular vs humoral immunity
- Differentiation and specialization of leucocytes
- Antibodies: specificity, selectivity, affinity
Immune system: protect against infectious diseases
- Microorganism: bacteria (intracellular and extracellular), viruses, parasites
- Multicellular parasites
Vaccines: critical, effective and safe (since 1798, by Jenner)
Specific germs cause specific diseases
Koch’s postulate: a critical step froward in identifying causal agents
- Theoretical and experimental prove that a specific germ causes a specific disease
o The germ is found in diseased but not healthy organisms
o The ger, can be isolated from the diseased organism
o The germ disease when transferred
o The germ can be isolated again
Infectious diseases
- Polio: highly contagious virus; paralysis and deformation in 1/200 patients
o Only in developing countries
- Measles: highly contagious virus, with very severe complications and often resulting in death
o Measles incidence is strongly increasing in Europe
o This time last year, children in Samoa were dying due to a recent outbreak of
measles. Death rate is 1,5% of all infected
- Diphtheria: bacterial infection, most common cause of pediatric death before a vaccin
became available
o After diagnosis: 10% of patients die with and 50% die without treatment
→ studying and understanding the interactions between infectious agents and the immune system
had led to eradication of the viral disease smallpox and strong reductions in the incidence of a large
series of other infectious diseases. With loss of confidence in vaccines, infectious diseases reappear.
The vaccine
- Pathogen can develop
- Vaccine can not be effective after a while anymore
COVID-19
- Caused by the infectious agent SAR-Cov-2
- No one has immunity
- Infectious: virus in the body, but not sick
- Vaccination: immune system is exposed to infection → protective immune response (2 years)
1
, o Don’t know for how long this vaccin will work
o Cytotoxic T cells are part of the immune system that respond to an infection when
you are already vaccinated
- Severe disease in COVID-19 is more common in elderly people
o Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
o By immune response of the virus, not the virus itself
▪ Fluid starts leaking to the lungs because epithelial cells are affected
o Long-term symptoms(long covid): reported in all age groups
▪ Pains, fever up to 6 months after the infection
o Elderly: comorbidities, other medical conditions
▪ Why elderly are more affected by COVID
Do vaccines actually help?
- Meningococcal disease: caused by a bacteria that can inhabit the mouth and throat, in rare
occasions, the bacteria can enter the circulation leading to sepsis and meningitis
(hersenvliesontesteking), with a death rate of around 10% and severe complications with the
survivors including neurological symptoms, deformations and amputations
- In 2002, a vaccination programs against type C has nearly eradicated this meningococcus
type
- Meningococcus type W (zero type) has seen strong increase since 2017, and is very
aggressive leading to a new vaccination program for this disease
More vaccines are needed
- Infect the lungs, RNA virus
- RSV, a cause of common cold with yearly seasonal epidemics around the globe
- In preterm infants RSV can cause very severe complications, in susceptible children, also
those carried to term, RSV infections the first year contribute to asthma inception
- In non-western countries, RSV epidemics completely congest the healthcare system
- most children cause of death in children
- COVID-19 vaccines
o Mostly directed to the spike (s) protein, the protein that the virus uses to enter the
cells int eh nose or the airways
o This vaccine can be delivered in various ways
o Indicated virions might be used as vaccine
2
, o The current vaccines seem effective in clinical studies
- SARS-Cov-2 vaccines
o A successful SARS-Co-2 vaccine might work through a variety of immunological
mechanisms, involving the innate immune system and activation of the adaptive
immune response and establishment of memory B cells (antibody production) and
memory T cells (cell mediated virus
response)
Immunology
Clearly, a potent immune response is of critical
importance to combat infectious disease
- Cells of the immune system
o White blood cells/leukocytes: the most important cells in the immune system,
however other cells also play an important role, including epithelial and endothelial
cells
▪ Leucocytes originate form the hematopoietic stem cell
▪ Mature leukocytes often circulate the body using the blood and lymph
systems. However, tissue also harbor a large number of specialized tissue-
resident leukocytes
- The immune response
o Innate immune system:
Immediately response
▪ Born with it
▪ Respond to all pathogens
in the same way
▪ Recognize microbes, try to
‘eat’ them
o Adaptive response: long term
response
▪ Develops to specific virus
▪ Covid
▪ Active
3
, o Phases
- Innate vs adaptive immune system
o Innate
▪ Inflammation, complement activation, phagocytosis, and destruction of
pathogen
▪ Specificity: groups of microorganisms
▪ Fast response, first defense
• Always active
▪ Act within minutes
▪ Encoded in the germline DNA
• Memory response by epigenetic programming only
▪ Depends on the barriers, phagocytes, dendritic cells
▪ Inflammatory response: when microbe passed epithelial barrier → redness,
swelling, pain → clearing the pathogen
▪ Infection: microbes enters the tissue
▪ Inflammatory: recognition by innate immune system
▪ Immunity: building response to pathogen
▪ Humoral: proteins in solution
• Complemtn system
• Anti-microbial peptides
• Antibodies
o Adaptive
▪ Interaction of T cells with B cells, formation of germinal centers. Formation
of effector B cells (plasma cells) and memory B cells. Production of antibody
▪ Specificity: a single (protein) antigen
▪ Slow response, very powerful
▪ Induced by specific trigger
▪ Requires DNA arrangements
• Source of specific immunological memory and basis for vaccination
▪ Days or weeks
▪ May be lifelong protection (memory)
▪ Typically something of higher organisms (birds, mammals)
• The different parts of the immune system have evolved at different
moments in evolution
▪ Greated degree of diversity, and has a specific memory respons
4
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller noellevdz. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.83. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
81531 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now